Los Angeles Enviromental Issues and Green Business Forum

Future Fuels: Pork Fat Hybrid Drive

The LA Times had a great opinion piece in it this morning about biofuels. LINK – Here is a small bite:

“But who’s to say which technology will turn out to yield the cheapest energy with the lowest carbon output? Will the winner be the ConocoPhillips and Tysons Food venture that is already producing high-quality biodiesel from pork and beef fat? That high-cholesterol stuff turns out to have a carbon footprint about 60% lower than gasoline’s, it’s being pumped directly into a Texas pipeline, and it burns cleanly in existing diesel engines — but it didn’t qualify for the federal tax credits that would help make it commercially viable. Why not? Because animal fat didn’t have a powerful lobby like corn when the subsidies were drafted. ConocoPhillips later took its case to the White House and Congress, and came home with a tax credit. Less-powerful supplicants are unlikely to fare as well.”

I particularly like this concept, because who knows? Maybe it will make lean meat cheaper!? On the other hand, isn’t the cattle industry also one of the most energy intensive and polluting industries? And, doesn’t a huge proportion of our fertilizers, grain and soy crops go towards maintaining these industries? So wouldn’t this sorta just be the same thing as traditional ethanol production in way? It’s just capturing the energy down stream in the food chain…